Ukraine state debt stays flat in June
27 July 2018
Ukraine’s state debt amounted to USD 76.3 bln in June,
showing no statistically significant change from previous month, the Finance
Ministry reported on July 26. Foreign debt slid 0.3% to USD 37.5 bln, while
domestic debt inched up 0.1% to USD 28.6 bln. In UAH terms, foreign debt slid
0.1% to UAH 982.5 bln, while domestic debt increased 0.3% to UAH 743.6 bln. In
June, state debt amounted to UAH 67.0% of Ukraine’s 2017 GDP.
Evgeniya Akhtyrko: The decline
in foreign debt was due to debt repayments to IFIs and foreign governments. The
growth of domestic debt in June was due to the placement of local bonds for UAH
18.7 bln (including local Eurobonds for USD 539.4 mln), which exceeded the
redemption of local bonds by UAH 5.5 bln. The lower percentage decrease of
foreign debt in UAH terms is explained by a slight devaluation of local
currency in June.
For 2018, we project that the state debt will rise
to USD 78.2 bln (67.6% of GDP), assuming IMF cooperation is maintained.
